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Progress Indicators in Web Surveys Reconsidered - A General Progress Algorithm

Authors:
Thomas Martin Prinz
Raphael Bernhardt
Jan Plötner
Anja Vetterlein

Keywords: Progress Indicator; Computation; Adaptive Surveys; Web Surveys; Questionnaire Model

Abstract:
The inclusion of a progress indicator seems to be a simple part during the construction of a web survey. This paper shows that this is only true for linear surveys and does not hold true for surveys with adaptivity (branches). Therefore, we introduce a general model, which fits almost any kind of survey. Based on this model, the difficulties of progress computation are shown. As a solution, this paper proposes a general equation and algorithm to compute the progress dynamically. This algorithm predicts the number of remaining items for each page. Since the remaining items depend on the actual path through the survey, the algorithm was generalized by a so-called selection operator allowing different prediction strategies. With the help of this algorithm, it is possible to compare different strategies for a given survey and to select the best one. In examples, two prediction strategies are introduced which estimate either the most or the least remaining items. The paper concludes with a comparison of both strategies showing that the choice of the best prediction strategy is not trivial and depends highly on the structure of the survey.

Pages: 101 to 107

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2019

Publication date: February 24, 2019

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4138

ISBN: 978-1-61208-686-6

Location: Athens, Greece

Dates: from February 24, 2019 to February 28, 2019